Deborah Brown
A pioneer painter in Bushwick
After earning an undergraduate degree from Yale, painter Deborah Brown moved to New York to launch her career. Her wildly expressionist works have taken her from depictions of scrap heaps in Brooklyn to a form of comic portraiture riffing on the Old Masters to her most recent series of mythological figures. Brown talks to us about growing up in Washington, DC, studying at Yale, and showing at the Paris art fairs two weeks before the deadly attacks on that city.
Ten years ago, Brown was one of the important pioneers behind developing an art community–establishing studios and galleries–in Bushwick, part of the nether reaches of Brooklyn. After a few years in Manhattan, she was determined to found a supportive environment and has by and large succeeded. But now Bushwick is changing, and is the third-largest art neighborhood in New York. Will the influx of high-end galleries, restaurants, and stores destroy the original fabric of this unique neighborhood?
Photo credit: Youngna Park
Music credit: “Odyssey” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/
Great work!
Great extensive interview with Deborah Brown! Probing questions and thoughtful answers. I learned a lot about the growth and development of both the Bushwick arts scene and Brown’s own life as an artist and gallerist.
This was a very interesting and enjoyable interview. I had previously read about Deborah Brown’s influential work in bringing Bushwick to become the art mecca that it is today, but it was great to learn more about it from her perspective. While listening to the podcast, I also explored Deborah’s website and really liked the Tetes series that I could very well see grew out of those fascinating Bushwick landscapes. Thank you!
I especially love “Slag”, Deborah! It makes complete sense that these were points of departure for you. Thanks for this great listen, Ann!
Just finished listening to this in-depth and important interview on first initiatives and phases of the contemporary art world in Bushwick. I found the description of the mix of artist-run spaces and those by gallerists to be informative in describing where art in Bushwick is right now. Just as informative is how already-extant communities and the newer art ones co-exist. It is a good thing that Bushwick is accessible yet slightly less convenient than Chelsea and the LES. It will perhaps mellow its rapid growth and insure that future growth continues to be solid and continues to contain mixes of communities.
Oh my God, this work leaves me breathless.